Holden selectman says pipe device was a hoax, not a bomb

A Massachusetts State Police bomb technician talks with Holden Fire Chief Jack Chandler behind the Wachusett Regional School District offices on Main Street in Holden on Monday.

HOLDEN — The discovery of a pipe-like device on the sidewalk outside the central offices of the Wachusett Regional School District just before 3 p.m. Monday brought the state police bomb squad, an ATF agent and local police and fire personnel to the area, but by evening, a selectman was using social media to report the device was a hoax.

Main Street was closed near Mount Pleasant Street, staff and construction workers were evacuated from the building and neighboring homes were also cleared, Police Chief David Armstrong said.

Shaun Stewart, a veteran custodian at the former Jefferson School where the offices are housed, said he was mowing the small patch of lawn in front of the building when he saw the pipe.

“It was about this long,” he said, holding his hands about 8 inches apart. “And it had wires coming out of it.”

Mr. Stewart said the item did not appear to be a July Fourth leftover, nor did it look like anything he'd ever seen before, so he went back inside and summoned police.

From a distance, Fire Chief John “Jack” Chandler III said, fire officials could not identify the object.

“It looked like it had potential,” he said. “We couldn't tie it to anything like a piece of a truck or something.”

State police used a robot to photograph the item and when they were not satisfied that it was benign, the robot moved it to the back of the building for a closer inspection by a technician in a protective suit.

The device was taken by state police who will continuing the investigation with local detectives and fire officials.

Selectman Anthony Renzoni used Twitter and Facebook to tell residents the device was a hoax and asked that anyone with information about who may have left it near the offices to call police.